Today’s Quote If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward ~ Martin Luther King

What We Did
Adding to our collection CV2014 Daily Quotes, here’s what the students shared today (Today’s Quote is our favourite pick from Ashish):

Be strong when you are weak, brave when you’re when you are scared and humble when you are victorious. And be badass everyday.

You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like there’s nobody listening and live like it’s heaven on earth ~ William W Purkey

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier ~ Mother Theresa

If one door opens when another closes, does it matter who shut the door? ~ Annie Zelezsak

Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece, you cannot be improved, you have only to come to it to know it, to realise it ~ Osho

Sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary simply by doing them with the right people ~ Unknown

There’s nothing in the universe that is not within ourselves and nothing with ourselves is not in the universe ~ Gandhi

There is no such thing as failure, only feedback ~ Anonymous

If a cluttered desk is a sign of cluttered mind, of what, then is an empty desk a sign ~ Albert Einstein

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work ~Thomas Edison

Grace and Solonia led today’s morning workshops on The Process, Roadmapping and Creating a One Page Strategy. Over an intense two hour session, we shared a plethora of tools, resources, templates and lessons from our experience building The Change School and various other communities. We then broke the group into two groups for a Problem Solving with Mind Maps activity. For our afternoon session, we had Paul Meyers, Co Founder of Appetite Labs and TMT executive/entrepreneur give his Inspirational Talk on The Journey, sharing his experience, lessons learned and 10 commandments for entrepreneurship.

What We Observed

For the Problem Solving activity, students were asked to share the biggest problem/challenge they were facing. The rest of the group brainstormed solutions and ideas that were captured on a Mind Map. The exercise highlighted the importance of identifying the root cause of a problem in order to frame it as a question that others can provide valuable feedback to.

The Problem Solving activity also showed the students how a simple brainstorming exercise can be a fun and easy way to collect data from a sample group about a new product, service or idea.

Paul’s talk posed the question “Where do entrepreneurs come from?”, taking us on his 20+ year journey that began in the US state department, expanded to Asia, spawned multiple new ventures and a plethora of learnings, struggles and great achievements. To overcome the tyranny of choice, he says, “figure out what you’re going to thrive in, what will make you happy… follow your heart and talk to people you respect”. On resilience, Paul reminds us that, “some people are built for it, others aren’t… entrepreneurship is going through a glamorous phase, but it’s not for everyone”.

Key Takeaways
Lessons Learned on The Journey by Paul Meyers:

In Business...

You should not be doing this if your primary goal is to get rich

Always listen to what your customers are saying

Spend every penny wisely

Being profitable (even just a little) helps alot

You never “have” the money until it’s in your bank account

Know your numbers intimately… but don’t use pseudo-metrics

Test incessantly

Your business plan is as much for you as it is for them

Choose your board carefully

Hire smarter than you

In Life…

Be curious, ask questions

Be ready to commit everything (it’s not a part time job)

But, do not isolate

Be kind and generous (be kind for everyone else is fighting a battle ~Plato)